An independent investigation has discovered that the U.S. Catholic Church has been forced to pay almost $4 billion in compensation to child abuse victims. Over the course of the last 65 years, the Church’s sex abuse scandals have cost them a staggering $3,994,797,060.10, according to research conducted by NCR. Patheos.com reports: And that’s an underestimate since we still don’t know how much was spent for therapy for the victims, help for the offenders, and the creation of “safe environment” programs. That figure is based on a three-month investigation of data, including a review of more than 7,800 articles gleaned from LexisNexis Academic and NCR databases, as well as information from BishopAccountability.org and from reports from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Up until now, “nearly $3 billion” has been the most widely cited figure by media, academics and activists for the cost to the U.S. church for clergy sex abuse and its cover-up. NCR research shows that figure is too low, probably by as much as a billion dollars — and perhaps much more. … As a way of illustrating the magnitude of the costs to the U.S. church, if that amount were divided evenly among the nation’s 197 dioceses, each [...]
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